Walking Away
by halfpipez
Summary: Kai's walking away from his problems again, no thanks to Takao. But he decided to fix it... somehow... But saying something profound is rather hard. Oh, and Takao officially hates cliches, especially the rain.


It wasn't like they hadn't expected it. Though that was just blind reasoning for the mess he'd gotten them in. He hadn't actually meant it to end up like this. It just… happened… which was another pathetic excuse for why this even started and kind of not really ended. Or maybe it did end, but neither of them knew it yet. It was also possibly that it hadn't ended, which would explain how useless Takao felt at that moment. It was hard to tell with someone as emotionally estranged as a certain Kai Hiwatari.

Yeah, Takao was screwed for reasons unknown and he really did not want to find out. Though he knew one thing for certain: Kai had walked away again.

It was typical of him to just up and leave like he always did. And it he did it to everyone, not just him. That fact made him feel a bit better, but even so. The sound of his retreating footsteps sounded like a broken record to Takao, who still didn't really know what happened. And it wasn't like there were any witnesses to explain it to him either. Yeah, he was screwed.

Kai always knew what was right and wrong, though sometimes their opinions differed, and something that seemed okay was actually bad in Kai's perspective. It was extremely and frustratingly annoying to never know what was up, since Kai usually seemed to expect everyone to know what was up. But no one really ever knew. Again, it was hard to tell with Kai.

"Argh! What the hell Kai!" Takao punched the nearest wall, hearing his knuckles crack against the wood of the dojo satisfactorily. "Why do you have to be so _confusing_?!" He shouted to no one, as there was no one in the vicinity to listen. Even with his shouting, people outside couldn't hear him either over the pitter patter of the rain.

Yes, it was raining. On top of Kai's irritating cliché of walking out, it was raining. It was yet another cliché for an already overridden day of them. Takao was ticked. First it had been the fact that they were fighting in the first place, wow what a refreshing concept… it was usually why he walked out anyways, which was the second cliché. And now Takao was steaming over it all angrily, like he usually did. Oh, and it was raining. What the hell was that about?

"Maybe I should beat him to it next time…" He muttered, slumping against the wall to sit down, one of his knees drawn in. He stared out the window and sighed, wondering whether he should run after him or not. But, knowing how fast Kai could bolt out on him, Takao knew that he was probably already halfway through town.

He leaned his head back on the wooden walls and sighed. Problems with Kai were never solved easily. Takao wondered vaguely what he could be walking away from this time, trying to come up with things he might've said or done to make him leave like that. It wasn't easy to come up with anything, because they'd barely said anything to each other.

Okay… maybe Takao mentioned he was being a stuck-up snob who didn't care about anyone around him since he probably had some pity story no one knew about because he didn't want anyone to care. Which was pretty profound for Takao to say, considering he felt oblivious half the time he was around Mr. 'I'm Too Deep For You To Understand'.

Ugh, now he certainly felt like an idiot.

He frowned, not really liking the situation. It was quiet, much too quiet for him to try and figure this out. Most people said silence and solitude helped in finding an answer, but this was sadly not the case with Takao. He stood up suddenly, straightening himself up before walking purposely, through the same door that Kai had walked through ten minutes ago.

He stomped through puddles, down the streets and the roads in between, all the while ranting to himself about how he officially hates the rain for its insolence in trying to set a mood that didn't exist. Takao was pretty sure neither he nor Kai were depressed at all at that moment, but merely infuriated at each other a bit. Okay, fine, a lot.

Getting sick of the rain hitting his face and making it awfully hard to see, Takao twisted his cap around in an attempt to search out the park, where there was no sign of a white scarf flailing about in the wind. Takao rolled his eyes, of course he wasn't here. Kai was more likely to go to the riverbank. So, with renewed determination, he started running to the bridge, where he was almost certain he'd be. It was, of course, the place Takao had found solace quite a few times. It was also his best guess considering he couldn't think of anywhere else.

"Damn it why'd you have to decide to leave _now_?" Takao muttered, feeling the chill of the wind that was going against him. "Why couldn't you leave when it's dry and nice out or something?" He almost wanted to say 'the things I do', but restrained himself from sounding too stupid. He knew the response he'd get from saying something like that would be rather demeaning to him.

As it so happened, Kai was indeed at the riverbank, near the bridge. Takao sighed in relief. He really didn't want to keep running with the water weight his clothes carried.

When he looked down and saw the white scarf, still somehow around Kai's neck – seriously, it was windy and raining and it hadn't slipped off! – Takao had a sense of foreboding, like if he was going to say something it had better be as profound as the last thing he said, but not as stupid. He doubted that Kai had heard his footsteps at all, with the rain getting louder and louder. And the fact that Kai was still staring out at the river didn't hurt his guess either.

Luckily for Takao, loud was his forte. "Hey Kai! What are you doing out here, you know you'll get a cold or something? God, it's not like it'd kill you to stay inside for once! It might kill you if you stay outside though… Did you even get your flu shot this year?" Hmm… Saying something profound was certainly out of the question now.

Kai turned around slowly, almost prolonging the sense of imminent fear in Takao. "What do you want, Kinomiya?" He asked, his grey eyes flashing. Tyson almost thought they kind of glowed purple, though he couldn't tell as the rain was way too heavy for him to see anything clearly.

"I want you to stop running away from me!" Takao said furiously, remembering why he had come out all this way. "Running away from all of us! What's wrong? We sure as hell don't know! And we don't expect you to tell us either, but sometimes we need an explanation. Care to explain yourself this time Kai?"

Kai turned back to face the river, though his head hung lower, in thought.

"Yeah, that's right! I do care." Takao said, attempting to run down the hill, but instead slipped on all the wet grass and fell face first at Kai's feet, mud squelching around him. At some point during his fall, Kai had turned back around.

"I don't expect you to." Kai said quietly, almost so that Takao couldn't hear him over the rain. He really wished there was a volume switch for it.

"Why not? I'm your friend aren't I?" Takao said, standing up and balling his hands into fists. "That's what friends do, we _care_."

Kai's eyes narrowed, and this time they did flash a peculiar shade of purple. "You wouldn't get it, even if I told you." He said, turning to walk off – _again_ – his scarf flapping in the wind behind him. It came pretty close to whacking Takao's face, but thankfully it didn't, or trying to protect his face from getting wet with his hat would've been a waste of an effort.

Kind of like this whole encounter was turning out to be.

"Don't walk away from me!" Takao shouted at him, running to catch up and almost slipping on the grass again. He really hated the rain. Though, it was helping the mud wash off of him pretty well.

"Why shouldn't I?" Kai stopped, and Takao crashed into his back. Yeah, he also hated his luck today.

"Because normal people run away from their problems, and you're not normal." Takao said determinedly. He grabbed Kai's shoulder in an attempt to spin him around to face him, but it didn't work. "Face me, Kai! I'm your problem aren't I?!"

Kai brushed him off and kept walking, leaving Takao to stand there watching him leave again. In Takao's opinion, Kai seemed almost thoughtful, but since when was his opinion the right one between the two of them? But when Kai was a good distance away from him, he stopped abruptly. Not bothering to turning around this time, he spoke. "Aren't you going to follow me?"

Takao was surprised. Maybe he was right about the 'being thoughtful' thing! He caught up to him and grinned. "So, you're finally going to tell me what's up?" He asked, his hands coming up behind his head.

"Not a chance." Kai said, much to Takao's chagrin.

"But, we're cool right?" Takao asked hopefully.

"Whatever…"


End file.
